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Modeling the thought processes for learning through the "think-aloud" strategy -- for example, sharing with students how you organize your thoughts for writing -- is an old but effective teaching strategy, transformational leadership coach Elena Aguilar writes in this blog post. "It's about making our thinking transparent for kids, the steps we take to figure something out, and the ways in which our actions flow from this thinking," she writes.

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The first year of teaching is hard, but new teachers can thrive at the beginning of their careers, transformational leadership coach Elena Aguilar writes in this blog post. She shares 10 tips for building resilience for a good year, such as finding a mentor and seeking out good professional development.

Transformational leadership coach Elena Aguilar in this blog post recommends providing teachers with more training and support on social and emotional learning. Changes in technology and the ongoing transition to Common Core State Standards are among the reasons educators need strategies to combat the anxiety that comes with change as they may have difficulty learning new teaching strategies when stressed, she writes. "SEL is foundational for educators to build the skills to manage the tidal wave of changes and to be effective in their responses to changes," she writes.

Requiring students to show their work in math can hamper deeper learning, instructional coach and consultant David Ginsburg writes in this blog post. Besides giving students the option to show their work, he suggests asking students to explain -- out loud or in writing -- how they reached an answer. "A problem with requiring students to always show their work is that it risks emphasizing mathematical procedures and computation to the exclusion of mathematical thinking," he writes.

New teachers need their mentors and coaches to listen to them process the overwhelming experiences they are having in their first months in the classroom, writes transformational leadership coach Elena Aguilar. In this blog post, Aguilar also suggests coaches help new teachers set small, measurable goals, while offering thoughtful advice on their teaching practice and their professionalism. "They need emotional support, they need some quick wins in the classroom, and they need feedback," she writes.

The best way to encourage radical innovation is to set apparently impossible goals, writes Stephen Shapiro. Instead of aiming for, say, a tricky-but-achievable 14% growth rate, try instructing your team to grow sales by an all-but-impossible 50%. "A 14% improvement can most likely be attained through conventional thinking," Shapiro writes. "But a 50% growth target would require some breakthrough thinking; radical ideas."